Spartacus: War of the Damned - "Mors Indecepta"Review

Let’s face it; despite the superior skill of Spartacus’ men in a straight battle, the rebels have been having their asses handed to them by the tactically superior Crassus. The Roman Imperator has bested Spartacus every step of the way in what has been an impressive display of war strategy. The mental chess game that Spartacus and Crassus have engaged in has spawned an extra dynamic of strategy that we haven’t quite seen from the series before; at least not on the level of thousands that we’ve seen this season. With the rebels trapped between legions of Roman troops and an artificial wall erected by Crassus’ men, Spartacus may just have fallen into a trap he cannot escape.

The growing sense of desperation amongst the rebels as they find themselves trapped, hungry and helpless leads to increased tension and frustration; especially between Spartacus and Crixus. It appeared that the two had settled their differences last week as they once again had a renewed common purpose, survival. With desperate times setting in a sense of hopelessness, Crixus would rather drive into battle absent strategy instead of finding a Roman sword in his own back. The renewed animosity leads to some great scenes between Spartacus and Crixus that harkens back to their days in Batiatus’ ludus. Their no-holds-barred fistfight was admittedly a joy to watch. The ruthlessness of their words and actions were straight to the points with neither backing down. Their conviction to their ideals is what makes both these characters so great and as frustrating as it is to have the two leaders of the rebel army fight at a time like this, it’s fun to just watch Spartacus and Crixus in a good old-fashioned fistfight.

The raid on the Imperator’s tent brought out the absolute best in Crixus though. A not-so-surprising trap leads to an injured Naevia and Crixus unleashes hell on several Roman soldiers. I loved this entire scene from beginning to end as Crixus decimates several Roman soldiers in pure rage. It’s a striking image of just how powerful and badass Crixus is. I look forward to someone putting together a gif of the whole bloody sequence.

With the pressure on the rebel camp some surprising developments take place within the walls of Sinuessa. Crassus reinstates Tiberius in the Roman army as a commander and puts Caesar under the boy's command. Yeah, I was just about as surprised and pissed as Caesar was. It works though. Caesar had far too much going his way and that worm Tiberius needed to get the upper hand, at least one more time. It will make his hopeful downfall all the sweeter.

Kore’s story has really developed into something interesting over the last few weeks. With the discovery that she is to remain in Sinuessa with Tiberius, Kore decides to tell Crassus the truth. Unfortunately, and somewhat expectedly, she can’t bring herself to hurt Crassus by telling him of what her son has done. What was surprising was her defection over to the rebel camp. I just assumed she would commit suicide but it’s good to see her live another day and I’m really interested to see how her story will continue on Spartacus’ side of things.

As a storm moves in the rebels hunker down for the night and Gannicus finds shelter with Sybil. We kind of expected more to happen between Gannicus and Sybil but it’s hard not to find myself a little disappointed. Saxa has been awesome throughout the entire season. Her devotion to Gannicus has been absolute so it was a little upsetting to see Gannicus sleep with Sybil. I know that’s odd when you consider Saxa offered up Sybil to Gannicus earlier in the season but this was obviously different. There was an emotional connection implied and that clearly wounded Saxa.

The aftermath of the storm leaves a thousand rebels dead. With all hope seemingly lost Spartacus gets one hell of an idea. The battle to take the wall may have been a small skirmish when you consider the numbers but it was a huge victory for Spartacus and it marked Crassus’ first real defeat. The visual of a thousand frozen bodies thrown strategically in a trench to create a bridge to the wall was striking to say the least.

However, it was a little surprising that Spartacus didn’t pursue Crassus when he finally arrived at the wall to inspect what had happened. Crassus was guarded by a fairly small group and, with some forethought; Spartacus could have ended things with Crassus right there and then. Seeing the Romans run in fear was good enough though and I don’t expect the story to stray that far from history, so Crassus lives to fight another day.

Great

With their backs literally against a wall, Spartacus and company get creative trying to escape the Roman army.